Successful trip to the Dubai mall. Hit all the non shopping highlights including the human waterfall, the dinosaur skeleton, the aquarium, the fountain and the Garett’s popcorn. Saw many group tours going through the mall. Another side note, in Dubai Uber is a premium taxi service and nearly all Ubers are black Lexus ES cars.

At McDonald’s at airport on the way to Dubai. Not allowed to open bag until 6:07pm to eat. Some guy already yelled at for opening bag. 13 minutes to go.

6:07pm is Iftar. Time when the sun sets and you can break the fast for Ramadan.

Whole restaurant filled with people at tables starting at bags of food.

I arrived today in Rome for start of 2 month assignment for work. Only took 15 minutes for me to exit plane, make it through passport control and get baggage. Amazing. Had a scare at rental car office. I didn’t bring my US drivers license and rental company did not like my Saudi Arabia drivers license, but eventually I got a car.
First stop was the local grocery store. I wanted bread for PB and Jelly, but there was only a fancy bakery and I didn’t want to ask for Wonder Bread. Store had giant vats of serve yourself wine. At checkout I had to pay for plastic bags. Clerk asked where I was from then threw in an extra bag for free.
Next stop was a pizza place. You pay for pizza by the weight here. I was the only one in restaurant. I was talking to the server who was very interested in Texas and US TV shows. We ended up watching the TV show “The Office” together.

I have a Saudi bank account that I only use to transfer US dollars when needed. I don’t use it very often. I get a message from the bank that account will be closed for inactivity. I transfer some money into the account thinking this will make the account active. Of course it doesn’t work so I have to go into the bank. I see a customer service rep who looks up my account. The only way to make active is to make a withdrawal. Next I go see a teller to make a withdrawal. After photo copying my ID and signing 3 papers, I finally make my 1 riyal withdrawal which is equivalent to 25 cents. I was handed one coin.

I listen to a radio station out of Bahrain whose broadcast reaches Saudi Arabia. The radio station announced the top 5 Christmas movies. I think the list is missing some key movies, but here is a Middle East take on the top 5

5. A Christmas Carol

4. The Christmas Chronicles

3. The Holuday

2. Die Hard

1. Love Actually

Fox are very common on the golf course and can be very curious. I have played over 100 rounds of golf this year, but have never seen this.

A fox was checking us out as we were talking on the 9th green. I threw a golf ball towards the fox. The fox picked up the ball, buried it in a hole, then peed on it. Classic fox move.

Then we got our camera out to take a video. Threw another golf ball. The fox ran away. Classic fox move.

Summer is hot in Saudi Arabia. 110 F on normal day and even though it’s a desert it can be very humid in the Eastern Region. This means indoor activities hence not many exciting updates to give.

Even Lilly prefers the comfort of the AC. On really hot days for walks, she will go to the first tree and sit in the shade content to sit and hang out.

Night time is the only time weather is tolerable. Golfing at night under the lights.

Or walking dog at night. Lilly loves drinking out of the sprinklers. This is what happens when Lilly breaks off a sprinkler head.

Attended a Christmas in August dinner party with a group of people mostly from South Africa and one guy from Wales.

Turkey, cranberry sauce, Brussel sprouts with bacon, goose fat potatoes and bread pudding for desert.

Goose fat is popular in the UK because it makes the outside of the potatoes extra crispy. I’m sure goose fat is as least has healthy as lard I was in charge of bringing tonic water. I plan on doing a whole post on tonic water in the future.

I am taking a class on Saudi Arabia culture. There is a continuing education program in the community with classes on all kinds of subjects. The classes started up again this Summer after being shutdown for over a year for COVID-19. 4 people are in the class and the teacher is a woman who retired from Saudi Aramco.

Some fun facts I have learned so far:

Saudi Arabia has no rivers. The teacher traveled to USA to see Niagara Falls and was explaining to the class how much water there was at the falls. The Saudi people are always fascinated by large bodies of fresh water since water is so scare here.

Saudi Arabia has in the last 5 years started trying to attract companies to build in the Kingdom. Teacher gave an example of how Saudi Arabia was the largest customer in the Middle East for Procter and Gamble, but P&G has no physical presence in Saudi Arabia. Now P&G has built factories here.

Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 so it is a very young country. The founding father who United the area was King Abdulaziz. He had 22 wives over his life from which he had 45 sons and 55 daughters. You know towards the end of life he was pressing to get to an even 100 kids. He has thousands of grandchildren. Every king since the 1930s to this day has been a son of King Abulaziz.

A benefit that Saudi Aramco provides is an additional house if you get a second wife. It is unreasonable to expect multiple wives to live in the same house. I have had many conversations at work with Saudi co-workers some who have multiple wives. The first point that always comes up is you have to be very wealthy to have a second wife because you need to essentially support 2 separate households. The second point is it a good idea to have the separate houses in two different cities.

I never in my life thought I would be drinking a non-alcoholic beer in the Persian Gulf.

Jubail is an industrial city on the coast an hour drive North of my house. You will never hear this body of water referred to as the Persian Gulf because Persia is a reference to Iran. It is always called the Arabian Gulf.

Jubail is the world’s largest industrial city established in 1975. It covers 1,016 square kilometers and includes industrial complexes, major harbour and port facilities.

The goal of the boat trip was to avoid the heat and the industrial areas and travel to an island to snorkel and swim.

To get to the Snorkel area, the boat drove through the Berri offshore oil field. Discovered in 1964, the Berri field commenced crude oil production in 1970. The field is currently capable of producing 250,000 barrels per day of Arab Light crude.

The Berri field was filled with working ships. A friend on the boat was a former offshore worker and was identifying the different types of ships: Dry bulk carriers, re-fueling ships, liquid carriers, dredges and support ships. This ship is coming in to be loaded as it is sitting high in the water.

The temperature at departure was over 100 degrees, but dropped 20 degrees as we got off shore. Pictures of locals taking similar boat trip.

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The water was a beautiful color and cool. Not much coral, but plenty of fish to be seen while snorkeling.

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Ramadan starts tonight pending the crescent moon being visibly spotted anywhere in Saudi Arabia. Ramadan is the 9th month of the Hijri calendar. The Hijri calendar is lunar based and is 10 days shorter per year than the Gregorian calendar. The Muslim religious holidays and government documents are based on the Hijri calendar. This means I have to update my Saudi ID every 355 days which is slightly annoying to keep track of.

Ramadan lasts for an entire month. During the entire month Muslims fast, Meaning food and water is not allowed during daylight hours. Ramadan results in changes to the workplace. The workday is shortened from 9am to 3pm for Muslims. For non-Muslims, the workday remains the same. Food and water are not allowed in the office. There are “sin” rooms which are rooms with windows covered up for non muslims to eat and drink during the day.

Restaurants and places that sell food are closed during the day only opening at sundown. This is where the burger-athylon comes in which I have been invited to par take in. The Burger-athylon is an annual ex-pat lunch event that takes place the day before Ramadan starts to take advantage of the last day restaurants are open. This is the 9th year. The Burger-athylon consists of eating a burger at 3 restaurants, I Wish Burger, followed by Johnny Rockets, followed by 5 Guys. At 5 guys you must also get fries and a milk shake. Fries must be regular size or larger. Burgers must be regular size. No kid burgers and regular at 5 guys is a double patty. You can tell people have tried to cheat in the past to be a burger athlete.

I was unable to finish the fries at the end, but I’m happy with finishing 3 burgers during my first event.

Ramadan Mubarak